The Desert Song (1943)
December 17, 1943Release Date
The Desert Song (1943)
December 17, 1943Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Dennis Morgan
Paul Hudson / El Khobar
Irene Manning
Margot
Bruce Cabot
Col. Fontaine
Lynne Overman
Johnny Walsh
Gene Lockhart
Pere FanFan
Faye Emerson
Hajy
Victor Francen
Caid Yousseff
Curt Bois
François
Jack La Rue
Lt. Bertin
Marcel Dalio
Tarbouch
Nestor Paiva
Benoit
John George
Riff (uncredited)
Gerald Mohr
Hassan
Joseph Crehan
Steve, a Reporter
Gino Corrado
Headwaiter at Cafe Benoit
Robert Florey
Director
Media.
Details.
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
The Desert Song is a 1943 American musical film. It was directed by Robert Florey and starred Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning and Bruce Cabot. It is based on the 1926 operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Charles Novi, Jack McConaghy).
This film version of the operetta was, like the 1929 film version, almost never seen after its original release due to content and copyright issues, which made the film hard to find or view. In 2014, it was remastered, restored and released on DVD by Warner Brothers.The film is more sophisticated technically than the earlier film due to its large budget and advances in both sound and color. This is the first film version to be made in full three-strip Technicolor. It tries to make the operetta topical in terms of World War II, by having the outlaw hero with a dual identity fight the Nazis as well as the Riffs. As in the 1953 film, the hero's name is changed to El Khobar, rather than the Red Shadow.
The 1943 Desert Song is perhaps the only instance in which a stage operetta of the 1920s has been updated to reflect topical concerns of the 1940s. In fact, the United States Office of War Information held up release of the film for a year because of the shifting political positions of Vichy France. It did well at the box office nonetheless, and was Warner Brothers' highest grossing film of the year.